


The Catalyst

by tsundanire



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Blood and Torture, Dubious Morality, Horror, Implied/Referenced Cannibalism, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Mentions of depression and suicidal thoughts due to trauma, Minor Character Death, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Survival Horror, Trauma, dubious consent: kissing, graphic depictions of torture and violence, hints of PTSD, major angst, references to rape and torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 22:54:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16417586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsundanire/pseuds/tsundanire
Summary: What had once been a city filled with bustling movement and energy, was now nothing more than another wasteland.Running low on supplies, Tom treks into the remnants of a once towering city, filled with life. What else could await him, but the catalyst of death?





	The Catalyst

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lord_of_the_Snakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_of_the_Snakes/gifts).



> This was certainly an interesting one to write. [Lord_of_the_Snakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_of_the_Snakes), I hope this fits what you were looking for! It was definitely a new challenge for me as a writer, but I feel like I learned a bit while writing for your prompt! I sincerely hope you enjoy!
> 
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> For everyone else, please mind the warnings! :D 
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> As always, thanks to C for giving this a look over <3 You are the best!!!

 

 

__

 

Grey. Everything from sky to land was shades of grey. Silver, pewter, charcoal, dove, and even a wispy cloud-like fog that lay over the land in a brownish grey. The land was barren and dry, but the remains of a broken city were viewable from the distance. What had once been a city filled with bustling movement and energy, was now nothing more than another wasteland. Though, with a downtown core as massive as this one, there were likely to be two things that most of the other wastelands didn’t have. One, more stockpiles of things like food and medicine, and two, larger concentrations of factions vying for, or guarding those stockpiles.

 

Tom hated making trips into the city, and desperately avoided them when he could, but he was running really low on basic supplies. He’d already lost his travelling partner to a wound that bled out, and which could have been easily treated, but they’d both been raided in their last city stay and had nothing left. Tom had mourned the man, who’d become both friend and lover. Not that either of them had much choice these days. No one did. If you wanted to get your jollies off, you took what you had, though a lot of people ‘took’ in the more literal form. Yet another reason to avoid the centers.

 

Tom adjusted the goggles on his face, ensuring the band was tight, and shifted the kerchief that covered from nose to chin. The air was still too smoggy to inhale without some kind of filter, but Tom didn’t have the resources to trade for one of the military-grade face masks. Another ten minutes and he’d be crossing the border into the city, and with that he’d have to be extra vigilant. There were stories of bandits in the city that not only raped and tortured, but many of them were also low of supplies and… food. It didn’t take much stretch of the mind to understand what that meant.

 

As he closed in one a grouping of tall glass buildings, dust and dirt plastered on it’s cracked windows, Tom moved slowly and half crouched. He’d checked the map before he entered the city, but who knew how outdated the information was. His supplies were only supposed to be about a block and a half away from his current position, though that hardly meant a thing when he didn’t know what traps might lay between here and there.

 

Somehow he crossed over without a single issue. Not a single trap triggered, or alarm raised. No one noticed his presence, to the point that he wondered if there was even anyone there to notice him in the first place. Tom narrowed his eyes and glanced around, trying to peer inside dark buildings.

 

* **BANG** *

 

A shot rang out in the distance, followed by shrill cries and screaming.

 

There it was. Tom knew better than to think he was alone, even if it seemed empty. Each pit of darkness was simply a cave of watchful eyes, bent on taking him unawares. In this case, the bandits caught someone else, or several someone elses’ by the sound of it. His flight response was in high gear, eager to get the fuck out of the city before he was dragged in with those unlucky souls. But part of him couldn’t help but stay right where he was.

 

The screaming continued, getting closer to where Tom was hidden away, but they never closed in on him. Shouts of cheers, and mocking jeers joined the chorus of screams, sending a strange shuddering down his spine. When the voices turned and seemed to get quieter, or perhaps further away, Tom peaked his head around the corner of the building. The bandits, garbed in outland clothes, and makeshift masks, were leading three victims into their base with lengths of rope wrapped tight around each person.

 

The base itself was located inside one of the buildings, but had been tunneled into the underground system, either by tool or by earthquake, Tom wasn’t sure. However, he turned his attention to the captured three. It looked like two males and one female… Strange how one of the men, scruffy hair and length of beard, looked strangely familiar. The suspicion was confirmed when Harry turned his head to snarl at the man holding his rope. Tom might have been far, but he’d know those eyes anywhere. Fuck. He was going to have to stage a rescue.

  


__

 

He waited till nightfall. It was always easier for him to move in the dark, and he assumed it was mostly to do with being able to see better in the dark than other people. Slinking from corner to corner, Tom made it safely inside the base and down to the ‘pit’.

 

The ‘pit’ was what most bandits had cheerfully and grotesquely dubbed the center of their bases. It was where most of the prisoners ended up eventually, and where the bandits voted on what would happen to each prisoner. From his vantage point, Tom could see Harry resting against the back corner of the closest cage. One of the three that were caught earlier, the ginger-haired male, had his arms chained above his head in the center of the pit. Apparently they’d decided on torturing him to death, likely with plans to feast after. Tom had heard rumors from other bandits that human flesh had a strange flavour, and unlike other animals who’s flavour gained a tougher taste and consistency with fear, human flesh only got softer. He was curious, but only marginally so, and not nearly enough to participate in such gruesome ritual.

 

There were three bandits focused on the ginger’s torture, but they all seemed to alternate and take turns in a cycle. The first would use a blunt instrument, much like a bat, with the flat ends of nails sticking out of the end, and swung with great force at the centerpoint of each of the ginger’s limbs. First the knees, the bat connecting with a sickening crunch, and the male crying out with a voice so raw it was almost a wheeze, then the bat aimed for the elbows, shattering the bone with a single blow. Or so Tom could only assume. And with each swing, the blunt nail heads taking an inch of skin with it.

 

The second bandit took over then, trailing a blade up and down the male’s sternum. It looked like he was carving something into the center of the man’s chest, but Tom couldn’t really read it from here. The screams turned to sobs, as if the man no longer had the energy to keep vocalizing his pain. Finally, the third bandit who was seemingly female, slowly circled the ginger, and tortured him with words, about how they’d taken the other female prisoner and all the things they’d done to her. There were graphic descriptions of gang rape, and more torture, until finally she leaned in and described exactly how tasty the girl’s flesh had been. The ginger gagged, and spewed what little remained in his stomach across himself and the floor in front of him. His sobs changed from pained to truly agonized. Sadly, those two were not his concern today.

 

Tom took very slow, careful steps forward, creeping behind rocks and other cover, until he was right at Harry’s back. He whipped his hand over Harry’s mouth, through the bars of the cage. Harry, who’d been sobbing over the loss of one friend and subsequent torture of the other, struggled against his hand until Tom leaned in and whispered in his ear.

 

“Stop! Stop Harry, it’s me. It’s Tom! I’m here to rescue you!”

 

He was close enough that he could smell the stale salty rankness of Harry’s sweat, but just underneath all of that was distinctly Harry. Something Tom had come to crave during their school years. Even now, he was as hard as solid rock in the midst of all this gore.

 

“T-Tom?” Harry’s voice was rough and low, as if he, too, were one of the many people screaming themselves raw.

 

“I’m here.” Tom whispered, trying to give Harry a hand to grasp on to. Sure, it meant different things for the both of them, but if Tom was successful in getting Harry out of here, he was going to learn that affection was only going to come from one place from now on. Harry grasped his hand with a strength Tom didn’t realize Harry still had.

  


It didn’t take much to break Harry out of the cage, with most of the bandits sufficiently distracted with their torture, but just as they reached Tom’s secret exit, Harry dug his heels in.

 

“We have to go back!”

 

“What?!?! No! We can’t.” Tom hissed in a panicked voice.

 

“We have to save Ron!!” Harry insisted, pulling Tom back by their joined hands.

 

Tom looked behind Harry, watching as the bandit with the knife stepped back in. “Harry,” He started to warn, but there must have been something in his look, because Harry started to turn around too. Tom tried to turn him back, tried to cover his eyes, but it was too late. Harry watched as the blade sunk into his friend’s stomach, slicing clean across and eviscerating his innards. Tom tried to lift Harry over his shoulder before they drew attention to themselves.

It took even longer to get back to his temporary base, nestled just outside the city. He’d left his motorbike there, which was starting to run low on gas. He’d have to find another method of travel soon, since gas reserves were more precious than any shining gem these days. Still, now that he had a second person with him again, it meant he’d need double the stash. Maybe they should look at settling down somewhere more permanently… There was a farm he’d passed a few days ago… Might be a good place to build a shelter, store food, maybe even grow something? The land might be too dead for that but it was worth trying.

 

The camp itself was nestled in the remains of a cavern. The rock-face protected them from most of the elements and smog, and with the extra blanket that Tom had hammered into the rock over the entrance of the cave to give the appearance of just a normal rock, they were closed off from the world. Tom carefully maneuvered Harry to the ground and settled a blanket over his shoulder. He didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t come out as either completely insincere, or callous. He’d spent too long on his own to give a crap about people who weren’t or hadn’t been in his inner circle. And even then, these days it was look out for number one because no one else will.

 

Instead of talking, Tom focused on checking Harry over for wounds, but not finding a single one. Harry was a fighter, but he also knew how to play it smart to avoid unnecessary injury.  Kneeling in front of Harry, Tom brought his hands up and tilted Harry’s head from one side to the other, checking for any bumps or scrapes that couldn’t wait. When he assessed that nothing was wrong, he found himself mesmerized by Harry’s stunning green eyes, which watched him with hawk-like precision.

 

Tom licked his lips, suddenly realizing how much he’d missed the touch of another person. He leaned in, pressing their lips together in what he’d thought was passionate desperation, but Harry remained as still as a statue.

 

“Is this why you rescued me?” Harry whispered against Tom’s lips.

 

“Partially…” Why bother lying when he knew Harry could see right through him. He pulled back and let go of Harry’s face.

 

__

 

When he turned, he didn’t notice Harry moving to stand. He didn’t see the pain and anger flash in Harry’s eyes. He didn’t know that Harry was forming a plan that would take at least a full year to come to fruition. Tom was completely taken aback when Harry reached out, face turned neutral, and pulled Tom against him with a sharp yank.

 

“I haven’t thanked you, yet.” Harry’s face read dark, with a hint of arousal. Tom wouldn’t know how much this would kill Harry on the inside. How he’d spend the next few months creating little moments like this, until Tom was wrapped around his little finger. He wouldn’t see the knife between his ribs until Harry was backing away with blood dripping through his fingers.

 

As Harry roughly grabbed Tom’s face and kissed him with bruising force, Harry died a little inside. He’d do this for his friends. He’d do this to pay Tom back for leaving them behind all those years before. He’d do this with the same cold detachment Tom had used on him when  he’d broken his heart years before, leaving Harry behind to follow some bandit. When the kiss deepened, Harry’s heart finally splintered, leaving nothing behind. He would have to leave his humanity behind in order to accomplish his new mission. At least this gave him renewed reason to live. Oh yes. He would live, so that he could watch Tom die.   


  


END


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